Thursday, February 28, 2008

The audio of the interview with Dona Cadman today is right here. Steve V has the transcript. It's well worth reading.

Ms. Cadman verifies the story contained in Zytaruk's book which says that her late husband, independent MP Chuck Cadman was offered a $1 million life insurance policy for his vote to bring down the minority Liberal government in 2005.

Steve's post also brings up an interview between CTV's Mike Duffy and author Tom Zytaruk. The CTV video is here (includes the Cadman interview). Duffy reveals a private conversation he had with Chuck Cadman where Cadman expressed that he would not bring down the Liberals because he wanted to make sure that his parliamentary life insurance payout occurred while he was still a sitting MP. Knowing that he was going to die, the insurance was clearly on his mind.

That little bit of information connects some new dots. Steve V in his own comments picked up on it immediately.

Duffy was trying to tone down the story, offering up a conversation he had with Cadman, wherein he said he didn't want to vote against the budget, for fear he would lose his seat in an election and the insurance he had as an MP because of it. Duffy said Cadman was concerned that he would die and his wife would suffer. What nobody has picked up, Duffy actually connects some dots here. If Cadman was concerned about his insurance as an MP, then it what better way to allay his fears in voting with the Cons, than to offer him assurance on that score. Insurance was on Cadman's mind, according to Duffy, which puts the offer into complete context.

Cadman's survivor benefit, unless I have this mistaken, would have been approximately 2 years annual salary as a member of parliament. That would make a $1 million offer more - much more.